Behind the Blue at MODA

Caryn Grossman, principal designer at cg creative, hosted last night's Drink in Design event at the Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA) and it was...well, it was brilliant. We were feeling quite blue...and we were loving it!

Creators of the "Deeply, Darkly, Beautifully Blue"
David Richardson, Chris Buxbaum, Caryn Grossman, and James Hoback

Caryn and team created the Darkly, Deeply, Beautifully Blue vignette that's part of the currently running "The South's Next Wave: Design Challenge". 

Joining Caryn for last night's panel discussion were Chris Buxbaum, associate designer at cg creative (I wish I had his voice!); artisan James Hoback; and Living Work of Art David Richardson (who I have to say is brilliant!).

A Few Highlights

Caryn explained that each design team was assigned a color and an object. Her team was given the color blue and the object cake. The obvious jumping off point...Marie Antoinette. And Marie makes an appearance in the vignette (multiple appearances if you include the more subtle ones).

Marie Antoinette in
"Darkly, Deeply, Beautifully Blue" (MODA)

So, set with a theme, how in the world were they to select a blue to work from. Every designer and artist knows that practically every color has about a bazillion variations! The answer came with the sourcing of the furniture. Blue furniture!

Blue Furniture in
"Darkly, Deeply, Beautifully Blue" (MODA)

Once the furniture had shipped, the other blues to be used flourished from that seed. 

Now, you may notice that the silver flower petals on the floor and scattered throughout the vignette are not blue. Don't worry, they didn't break the rules. Metallic elements were within guidelines. But a surprise came in the vast number required to derive the desired texture.

35,000 Silver Petals
"Darkly, Deeply, Beautifully Blue" (MODA)

There are 35,000 silver flower petals in the vignette!

David, who truly is a living work of art, arrived in half drag and half not-drag. The other panelists told the audience that they themselves never know what they're going to get when they next see David. His persona changes with every visit.

David Richardson
"Darkly, Deeply, Beautifully Blue" (MODA)

David was the most soft-spoken of the panelists, but visually intriguing...and despite the four layers of eyelashes and accouterments, he's quite the nice guy. 

I've not mentioned the cake designer just yet, and that's because she wasn't part of last night's discussion panel, but surprise, surprise, she was there and the panel invited her to join. 

Cake Shoes in
"Darkly, Deeply, Beautifully Blue" (MODA)

No, no, Lisa Humphreys has not been mischievous or anything like that. She was only not on the panel because she's leading her own Drink in Design discussion event in March. She joined the panel long enough tell us that she'll be conducting a cake design demonstration and she'll have cake samples. Yeah! 

Alright, that's all I'm going to share, but I hope it's enough to encourage you to go see Next Wave to check out Darkly, Deeply, Beautifully Blue.

On a side note, Chris and David are currently collaborating on a year-long photography project bearing the working title "Schizophrenic Photogenic"...and it promises to be beyond astonishing! More on its opening later.

Unfortunately, filmmaker Milford Earl Thomas, another member of the team, was unable to attend last night, but his award-winning film Claire was mentioned numerous times. And actually, I'd was shown some clips from Claire just the night before...fascinating project!

Also spotted were Tim Hobby, co-curator of Next Wave and co-founder of Goodrowe | Hobby, and Lauriel Leonard, co-creator of The Iron Mand and the Concrete Blonde vignette and co-owner of Dex Industries. Both are lovely.

Go see "The South's Next Wave: Design Challenge", remember to vote for your favorite vignette, check out all the programs on MODA's website, and then head over to the wanderlust ATLANTA Facebook Page for more photos from last night and info on other Atlanta attractions.

Living Work of Art David Richardson
"Darkly, Deeply, Beautifully Blue" (MODA)

Cover: Tufted Blue

I'm totally in love with the new exhibit at the Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA). With that, here's a pre-sized Facebook Cover Photo from one of the 17 vignettes at MODA's "The South's Next Wave: Design Challenge"...Vignette #6: "Darkly, Deeply, Beautiful Blue".

"Darkly, Deeply, Beautiful Blue"
Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA)

"Darkly, Deeply, Beautiful Blue" was created by cg creative interiors' Caryn Grossman & Chris Buxbaum and the cakes are by Lisa Humphreys of Couture Cakes. This vignette, which subtly features cakes, is a nod to a Parisian salon, with a clever inclusion of Marie Antoinette.

There's a LOT going on in this vignette...including photos and a video of performance artist "Baby Doll" who attended opening night. It's nearly like observing a Salvador Dali painting in its infinite details...you could explore for hours!

Shared in a tour by exhibition curators Tim Hobby and David Goodrowe, of Goodrowe | Hobby, the artists of this vignette started as soon as the set-up period began and worked through the meager one-week time frame to prepare for the exhibition opening.

The exhibition is indeed a "challenge"...visitors get to vote on their favorite vignette. I like so many of them, I've not yet cast my vote. I need more time to deliberate. But...don't wait too long. The winner will be announced well before the exhibition concludes, so visitors have time to check out the winner(s).

Check out my previous post of this exhibit and then add a visit to MODA to your calendar. There's no other museum like this in Atlanta and it's one of the very few in the area that's also a Smithsonian Affiliate museum.

Now, head over to the wanderlust ATLANTA Facebook Page for more of what's going on in Atlanta!